


As the World Comes Crumbling Down

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck, Kagerou Project
Genre: Angst, Blood, Crossover, I am evil, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Multi, Multichapter, Multiple times, No real cohesive plot guys, Time Loop, guys seriously this sucks, kageroustuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-17
Updated: 2014-05-17
Packaged: 2018-01-25 12:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1647917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kageroustuck crossover drabbles, ranging from angst to crack to romance to fluff. Minor pairings. Pretty much a set cast, but you can request a certain pairing or something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As the World Comes Crumbling Down

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is a kagerou project/mekakucity actors and Homestuck crossover. I combined the song Heat Haze Days (which you should really listen to if you haven't, it's really good but it is bloody so if you are bothered by that kind of thing don't watch it) and the anime episode four, so there are some things different. I saw a post for this on tumblr and thought it would be a good idea to write. No one checked this, so if there are any spelling errors please tell me! (Or word errors, I did this on my iPad and I was typing pretty fast so it might have corrected to some weird things) thank you for reading, and please comment!

It was hot. 

Well, that was a given; it was the middle of freaking summer, for Christ sakes. Dave admitted that he probably should've opted for a less wintery getup, but he had instead decided to spend the time he was supposed to be getting dressed messing around with John, so when it was time to actually go outside he had to throw whatever he had that smelled or looked like it hadn't seen the World War Two of food fights (which, sadly to say, was not much; Dave did not take very good care of his clothes).

But he was beginning to regret that decision as he roamed the city streets (had they always been this twisted? Were those signs always there, or was the heat playing tricks on him?). The city was fairly new to him; he had only been there for a few days and had already gotten lost, and met the weirdest girl who then proceeded to make everyone chase them around for hours. (John later told him she was a famous idol and scolded him for not getting an autograph)

Needless to say the city was weird and the place he was walking around in was most definitely NOT the city he had been walking around in only yesterday. The place he was in currently looked like it came straight out of one of the horror movies he and John had spent countless hours wasting time watching. No one was around, which was strange for a big metropolis like this. The streets were twisted and street signs were littering the place and oh god the sun was beating down on his back-

Dave lifted his eyes from his phone, which he had been looking at as he was walking as if the phone held the answers to what the hell was going on at the moment, and saw John sitting on the swings just feet away from him. Like everything else, the playground was messed up too. John didn't seem to mind, though; he just smiled absentmindedly as he pet the small black cat that had taken residence in his lap. 

Dave eyed the cat warily; he got a seriously bad feeling from that thing, but he sat down on the swing next to John's anyway. The raven didn't seem to notice his arrival (either that, or he simply didn't care) and kept petting the small cat. Dave cleared his throat as if to get his attention. John, as if finally coming to reality, looked up at the taller teen and smiled. "Oh, hi Dave! I didn't think I would see you today!" That comment confused Dave; they were spending the summer together, right? But he decided to ignore it. 

"Yeah, nice to see you too. It's kind of hot today though, or is that just me?" He asked. John nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything. Feeling rather out of place, Dave continued. "Man, it is fucking hot though. We only get heat like this in Texas. Oh, did I tell you before I moved here I used to live in Texas? I guess not. It's not like summer is a bad season, though. I kind of enjoy it, to be honest."

At his last comment, John frowned slightly and looked down at his lap, where the cat was sitting. "Really? I kind of hate summer though." At that comment, Dave turned to get a good look at the blue eyed boy. His eyebrows were drawn together in concentration, as if lost in thought. Dave contemplated what was wrong with him when suddenly, the cat on his lap got up and ran towards the street, headed in the direction downtown was. 

As the cat got up, so did John. "Sorry Dave, I have to go." He mumbled, eyes glazed over. Before Dave could react, John began running after the cat. 

"John, wait!" Dave called after him, but to no avail. The raven haired boy had already left the premises of the park and was almost out of sight. "Shit." The blonde muttered under his breath and ran after him. There was no way he was going to let John out of his sight, especially when something weird was going on. 

Dave was never a very fast person, in all retrospect, so when it came to following after his best friend through the trippy city streets, with the hot sun beating down on his back, and sweat running down his forehead, he wasn't doing so hot (for once, pun not intended). Dave was barely able to keep John in his line of sight. He was probably overreacting; it was probably just the insane heat making him see things, and John was going to be fine, but he couldn't help but get a very bad feeling in the pit of his gut. Something had was going to happen, he knew it. 

He finally caught up with John, who had stopped in front to a crosswalk. The black cat was sitting in the other side of the street, head tilted tauntingly, as if to say 'come on. Come and get me.' Dave turned to look at John, who had a determined look on his face. He wanted to grab his wrist and take him home, where the could spend the day eating ice cream and playing Mario Kart when, without any warning, John dashed across the street. 

Red eyes widened in surprise as a trucker- the only goddamned living person Dave had seen all day aside from John and himself- came barreling down the road at over a hundred miles per hour. He opened his mouth as if to yell a warning, to tell John to _get out of there_ , to move. He began running towards him as the truck rammed into John and the street was painted with red splatters. 

Dave opened his mouth, a scream rising from his throat. Blood was all over the street: the cement, the sidewalk, the signs, his pants- Dave wanted to cry out. His best friend was dead, and he had just sat there like a goddamned pansy and watched it happen. He felt hot tears streaking down his cheeks and hitting the ground. Suddenly, it seemed like there were too many people around him. They were whispering and looking at him with their eyes full of pity. _'Don't just stand there!'_ he wanted to scream. _'Come and help him! Do something!'_

This had to be a dream.  
___

_It was night time. Dave was sitting in his small room when his phone started ringing. Curiously, he picked it up; being a not-very-sociable teen in the middle of the country, he didn't get very many calls. His eyes lit up when he saw it was from his best friend, John._

_It was no secret that Dave liked John. Even his stoic, emotionally stunted older brother/guardian had picked up on it. It was only natural, though; they had known each other since they were little toddlers, stumbling around and figuring out how to walk together. But of course, Jon being as straight as he was and having multiple love interests, he probably didn't give Dave a second thought romantically. And he was fine with that, as long as they got to be friends._

_He answered the phone (which was playing his ringtone over again; it was ironically set to ponponpon or whatever it was called). "Dave here. What's up?"_

_"Dave!" John had exclaimed excitedly from the other end. Dave smiled. He wasn't much for sappy shit, but he loved listening to John talk. It calmed him down whenever he was upset. (how was that for poetry?) He continued before waiting for Dave to respond. "An opportunity came up? How would you feel about going to the big city with me to visit my uncle for the summer?"_

_Dave thought about it for a minute. It wasn't like he was going to do anything fun over the summer, but he wasn't so sure that Bro would say yes. Besides it would be fun to spend the entire summer with his best friend, who he was seriously crushing on. And it would be fun to go to the big city. "Sure. But I'll need to convince Bro to let me go."_

_"Really? Thanks, Dave! We're going to have so much fun!" The smile he had imagined on John's face was thanks enough._

_It took a lot of convincing to let Bro even consider such a thing. He had lied, of course, as to why he was going to the big city for an entire three months, but Bro was not having any of it. Every night he brought it up, Bro would lock him outside with nothing but a small sword to fend off the wolves that lived near his house. Even so, he was hellbent on going with John. So, after the tenth day of being thrown outside, Dave decided he was going to run away. Temporarily. Like, only for the summer._

_It was supposed to be a fun vacation, just two bros hanging around. Now Dave would never have the chance to do that again, and it was all his fault._  
___

As soon as he opened his eyes, Dave was up out of his bed and putting clothes on. What had happened after he blacked out? He opened his phone to check how long he had been out of it, but closed it afterwards. The date said... August fifteenth? Someone was fucking with him. As much as he wanted to believe what had happened was a dream, it seemed all too real.

Why would it be a dream? A small voice in his head reckoned. 

He told it to shut up.

Feeling slightly hopeful, he put on the same outfit he had worn what seemed like the day before and ran out of the house. He walked quickly through the streets, which were still not filled with people. Street signs, sidewalks, and buildings were still out of place. Still, Dave walked as quickly as he could to the park he had met John at. He had to check to see if it was all just a dream or not. The sun was still beating hard on his back. 

He reached the park after what felt like hours of worrying. Once he saw the familiar mess of black hair, he sighed in relief and ran up to the slightly hunched over figure. "John! Are you alright? You'll never guess wha-" he stopped. At the sound of Dave's voice, John had turned around, but in his lap was... "The cat."

Call Dave an idiot, but he didn't trust the cat. It was the cat that John had chased after, the one who was sitting on the other side of the street calmly as John's blood painted the road red. John looked down at the cat as if he hadn't even realized there was one there. "Oh yeah; it came up to me earlier and just made itself at home in my lap! Isn't it cute?" He asked, smiling. "I was thinking of taking it home with me!"

Dave sat down on the swing next to John and glared at the cat as if to say 'try something. I dare you'. The cat just licked it's paw calmly. 

The two sat in silence, like they had for a short amount of time before _it_ happened. There were, Dave noticed, many similarities to what happened yesterday. Or, today. Or in his dream. They didn't have the same conversation they had last time, either. Dave sat in silence, looking at his lap as John pet the cat happily. When the cat jumped up and ran off, John stood up like he did last time. 

But before he could run off, Dave grabbed John's wrist, forcing him to turn around and face him. "Dave, what's gotten into you? You're acting really strange right now!" Dave just stood here, head hung low. He wasn't going to let John die a second time; he had a chance to make things right. He was going to take it. 

"Wait a minute," he began, taking a deep breath and trying to stop the tears threatening to spill. "L-let's go somewhere else. You know, you don't have to chase after that particular cat! There are plenty of other cats out here! If you want, we can go look for some at the pet shop now. Just; don't go after hat cat, okay?"

"Huh." John tilted his head sideways and looked at him curiously, as if considering the idea. Dave laughed inwardly at he face John was making. Thankfully, he agreed and followed Dave, who never loosened his grip on John's wrist, in the opposite direction the cat had run. Dave mentally thanked him. As dense as John could be, he knew something was up with his best friend. 

They reached the northern part of the city. The sun was still as hot as ever, and things seemed especially twisted in this area, but there were plenty of normal people walking around and there was no sign of the cat. Dave sighed and slowed down from the pace he had been running along at. He turned around and looked at John. Good, he had lived- he wasn't going to die-

John yanked his hand out of Dave's grip and stepped back. "Dave, what had gotten into you? You're acting really strange right now. Tell me why, or I'm leaving." He demanded. An image flashed in Dave's mind; John's bloody corpse haunted his vision. When Dave didn't answer, John walked past him. "See you later when you're feeling better."

It happened fast. Someone shrieked and pointed at the sky, prompting Dave to look up as well. Of course they would be right in front of a construction site. Something had happened with the crane holding the steel poles, and they were falling through the sky...

John didn't even scream as one of them impaled his heart. Dave watched him slump forward, once again unable to do anything. People crowded around him, pointing and whispering once more. Once again, Dave wanted them to shut up and help John instead of watching him bleed out right onto the sidewalk. But it was no use. John was, once again, dead. Through his tears and blood stained sunglasses, Dave saw it. It was only a flash, but it angered him. It was the black cat.

This time, Dave was beginning to doubt if it was a dream at all.  
___

Dave bolted upright in his bed and quickly picked up his phone, filled with dread. Once again it said August fifteenth. Once again John would die, and once again Dave would only sit by and not do a damn thing about it. He scrambled out of bed and threw on the same clothes he had put on the two days before. He may not be able to do anything, but it didn't hurt to try. 

Once again, the sun beat down on Dave as he ran through the roads. He didn't check for cars as he ran; why bother if people only showed up to taunt him every time John died? There would be no one to hit him. And even if they did, Dave was sure he would welcome it over being stuck in this hell. 

The park came into his view once more. Once more, he sat next to John and glared at that damn cat. By now he knew that the cat was tied to his deaths somehow. If he killed the cat, maybe the vicious cycle of cat and mouse (literally) would end.but he didn't want to risk it. What if something went horribly wrong and the cycle ended with John dead permanently? He wasn't willing to take that risk. Especially if there was a chance that John could make it out of this alive.

"Dave? Is there something the matter?" John's voice, laced with concern, brought Dave back to reality. Dave looked at the blue eyed teen and forced himself to grin, but it probably looked to artificial. 

"Yeah dude I'm fine." He answered. John seemed somewhat satisfied by that answer, but there was something still bugging him. Dave could tell. Dave looked at John for a minute, looking at every detail. The way his hair stuck up slightly in the back like he hadn't bothered to brush it in the morning, the way his glasses were slightly crooked. His eyes were the deepest shade of blue, which in some weird way, matched with Dave's own Ruby red ones. He didn't deserve to die like this, stuck in an insane time loop with a coward like Dave being the only one able to save him. 

Once again the cat leapt from John's lap and raced toward the intersection that John had first died in. John himself got up again to chase it, but this time Dave was prepared. Without any warning or words to stop him, Dave got up and grabbed John's wrist and _ran._

"Dave, what-" John started, but stopped when he caught a glimpse of Dave's face; hard, determined, and full of sadness. If John was able to see behind his sunglasses, which he used all the time to hide his annoying emotions when he didn't want people to see them (fat lot of good it was doing him these days) he would have seen that they had a slightly crazed look in them. 

This time Dave didn't stop when they reached the construction site. He raced past it, toward the edges of the city. There wouldn't be anything there that could harm him, Dave was sure of it. He would save John this time. 

The pair reached an overpass that went over one of the main roads; Dave running quickly out of breath and panting slightly, John being dragged against his own will. He wasn't struggling like last time. When Dave looked back, he saw the same glazed over eyes and a vaguely concerned look on his face. When they reached the top of the overpass, Dave turned around and faced John without loosening his grip.

John looked up at the taller teen with the same expression on his face. "Dave, what's going on?" He asked. It was different from last time, Dave noted as he scanned the area for the cat and ignored John. This time he was concerned instead of angry. John repeated the question again. "Dave is something the matter? If something is going on, you can tell me." 

Dave refused to meet John's eyes and kept walking. Dragging John along. John struggled and tried to pull away from him, but it was obvious that the blonde was not going to let go as easily as last time. Even if it seemed like there was nothing around the area to kill him. "We have to keep going. We need to get away from the cat..." He mumbled. 

"Cat? You mean the cat that ran away earlier?" He asked. Dave opened his mouth to answer. When a small meow from behind startled him. Dave spun around and saw it; the cat that had started it all. As he spun around, he had let go of John's wrist. He heard a loud CRACK. 

John had fallen down the stairs trying to pull away from Dave's death grip, and snapped his neck. His head was bent at an unnatural angle, and his arms and legs were bent oddly too. This time, there was no blood. But no blood was needed for this death. This death was the one that said, 'why bother? You're the one killing him anyway!' Dave turned around and looked at where the cat had once been. It was gone. 

For the first time in years, Dave threw up.  
___

Dave was beginning to hate summer. 

Every time he went to that goddamned park, every time he saw John he knew that his best friend was going to die. And every time it happened, Dave felt a part of himself die too. Each and every time it was a different, bloody way. Getting shot in the subway station. Getting strangled by a random stranger. Getting hit in the back of the head by a glass bottle from some drunken old man. It was as if they were in the show one thousand ways to die, and John was the main star. 

And each time Dave couldn't do a thing about it. He had even tried telling John what was going on, John would laugh in his face and make some offhand comment about how Dave's pranks sucked. And then he would die. Dave would always see the cat. 

How many times would it take to keep John safe? When would it be August sixteenth, when he could finally sigh of relief when this time loop would be over and John would be alive, there to get him with all his dumb pranks and tease him about not being cool with his cute asshole complex? What would it take to live? He asked himself these things as he looked at his bloodstained clothes over and over again.  
___

When Dave woke up after the hundredth time or so, he was fed up. He knew he had to put an end to this madness soon, or he would drive himself insane. He put his long sleeved shirt wight he scratched record on, grabbed phone, and ran outside. This time he left his sunglasses on the nightstand. This time, he didn't want to hide like a coward. 

He met John at the park. Once again he was petting the cat. Dave sat down on the swing next to him and looked up at the cloudless sky. The sun was beating down on him, but he was too numb to feel anything aside from his own grief. This time, John was the one to start the conversation. "Hey Dave! Did you forget your sunglasses at the house?" He asked in surprise. 

"Yeah." Dave answered bluntly, red eyes never leaving the sky, feet swinging aimlessly. John pursed his lips and lifted his hand from where it was resting on the cat. 

"Hey, it's really hot out today, right? I kind of like it, though; when I lived in Washington, things were really cold all the time, so we had to bundle up to get warm! It was crazy..." He paused, as if not sure if he should continue. "So this is really cool!" Dave nodded, not sure what to say. 

"Really," he asked. A rhetorical question. He removed his gaze from the sky and looked John in the eyes for the first time in what seemed like forever, a glazed over look. "If I were to be honest, I would say I really hate summer." He mumbled. John gave him a confused look, and was about to ask him something when the damn black cat jumped from John's lap. At the same time, Dave got up as well. He had a plan. He wasn't going to let the cat go this time. No more running away. 

As the cat ran, so did Dave. He vaguely remembered hearing John's voice. Shouting things like 'Dave, wait up!' and 'Where are you going?' Dave almost laughed bitterly at that; he had done almost the exact same thing the first time this had happened. He ran past everything; the crazy streets, the people that did nothing but pity him every time he held John's bloody and lifeless corpse close to him. 

He stopped when he reached the intersection. Sure enough, there was the cat; licking itself clean of dirt and grime. Dave wanted to snap it's neck. He could hear John coming up close behind him- coming from the other side was the huge truck that had killed John the first time. Oh hell no. 

John came and stood next to him, about to run out like he had the first time. Dave looked once more at the black haired boy next to him. His blue eyes and dumb smile that desperately needed braces. _You're not going to die this time. Not if I can help it._

Before John could react, Dave ran out toward the cat, toward the oncoming car. He could hear John shout his name. He stopped in the middle of the road, turned around, and desperately shouted the words he had wanted to say to John for years. He remembered John's shocked face as the truck collided with him, as he fell to the ground with a loud thud and his blood splattered the ground as John's had hundreds of times. 

_Fuck you, cat..._

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you know I cried while writing this. The feels. Btw if you didn't catch it Dave was shouting I love you to John at the end. (Also, John totally loved him back he was gonna say it back shhhh)
> 
> Bonus: alternate universe where John inherits the powers from the haze and hates it because every time he looks in the mirror and sees red eyes he is reminded of Dave, yet he carries it around to have a piece of Dave with him so he will always remember him.


End file.
